File under WTF: Since Brit elections, progressive radio jocks asking if we need a third party

[zulchzulu]

I was listening to Bill Press this morning while shaving, showering and other morning operations and he was going on about how we need a third party.

Callers were saying we need a third party because Obama "turned out to be a moderate when we thought he was a liberal".

First of all, Obama is a liberal. But he's also a pragmatist that knows that the only way to get legislation passed is based on realistic and incremental legislation that actually gets passed by the Congress and Senate and not some purist idea that dies in committee.

If anyone thought that single payer healthcare would have passed right out of the box, they also think that people should talk to space aliens since they make chemtrails on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings, depending on what Art Bell predicts.

So back to wanting a third party that apparently doesn't exist...

Except right off the bat, I'd say we have a few other parties out there. Let's just go with a few existing parties.

You have the Libertarian Party.

You have the Constitution Party.

You have the Green Party.

OK, you have the Socialist Workers Party.

So no third party? Really? We need a "new" third party?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_%28United_States%29

[FrenchieCat]

1. What happened to the Teabaggers? I thought that was their aim?

Did someone tell them just to vote Republican?
Me thinks so.

[zulchzulu]

4. Tea Party is "independent". meaning...

...that they voted for Reagan and the Bush Crime Family AND are too embarrassed to admit they were suckers for Repig bullshit... now they care about "spending", "morality" and how the deficit started in 2009 around the time Obama was sworn in.

[LAGC]

2. What we really need are run-off elections.

So people wouldn't be afraid of voting their conscience, voting for a third party they actually believe in, then only voting for the lesser of the two evils if they don't win outright. Proportional representation and alliances between parties for majority control would be ideal as well.

[villager]

7. +1

n/t

[zulchzulu]

8. Total agreement n/t

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. Obama is a left of center moderate which is what he ran as.

I think people mean a "viable" third party.

[zulchzulu]

5. A "viable" third party does not exist will ever exist for 50+ years

A third party is usually one that gets enough.

[demosincebirth]

6. I agree with you...especially on the single payer health care

[Jennicut]

9. Except the UK has a parliamentary form of gov. Which means they have coalitions in those types of

govt. 3rd parties here attract such a small % that they do little to change anything. I don't see it happening unless we change our form of govt.
Also, everyone puts their own spin on what they want "their" 3rd party to look like. We are so polarized as it is, what would a viable 3rd party look like? It would split one of the two parties in half. Or both in half and then we have 4 parties.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Our two parties are made up of coalitions within each party.

We have blue dogs, yellow dogs, progressives, farm-laborer, dlc, etc. They have libertarians, teabaggers, neoconservatives, theoconservatives, etc.

[Jennicut]

15. Yes, that it true. And if we want a 3rd party it will simply devolve into those

coalitions over time. Which is why I don't think we would end up with just a 3rd party but perhaps a 4th.

[boppers]

10. "space aliens since they make chemtrails ..."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=228

[IndianaGreen]

11. We need electoral reform in US, including proportional representation and...

abolition of Electoral College. US is the only country in the world where the candidate with the most popular votes does not win!

[LiberalFighter]

13. I was going to disagree but do agree that there is no necessity for the Electoral College.

We do have equal representation for the most part of the House. Not for the Senate but I support having only 2 Senators per state.

Abolition of the Electoral College would necessitate candidates to campaign for every vote they can get where they may not have bothered campaigning.

[Clintonista2]

17. That's not true at all

While I agree with you that proportional representation would be vastly superior to the electoral college, the US is NOT the only country in the world where the candidate with the most popular votes does not win. It can happen in ANY first past the post system, including the canadian ahd the UK systems.

[LiberalFighter]

12. They need to understand that the British form of government PM is our President.

Their PM is not elected by the people. It is elected as a result of who has a majority of elected members of Parliament or as a result of a coalition.

What good would it do to have a third party? We have plenty of third parties but they don't understand that in general they are useless as long as they are not organized locally in every precinct and nationally. Most third parties in this country are on the fringe.

[Aramchek]

16. Leftbaggers can be just as idiotic as Teabaggers